exist in
Cornish names of places, such as _Penquite_, _Kilquite_, etc. _Cowz_,
therefore, could not have occurred in a Cornish name supposed to have been
formed at least 2,000 if not 20,000 years ago.

This thrust might, no doubt, be parried by saying that the name of the
Mount would naturally change with the general changes of the Cornish
language. Yet this is not always the case with proper names, as may be
seen by the names just quoted, _Penquite_ and _Kilquite_. At all events,
we begin to see how uncertain is the ground on which we stand.

If we take the facts, scanty and uncertain as they are, we may admit that,
at the time of William of Worcester, the Mount had most likely a Latin, a
Cornish, and a Saxon appellation. It is curious that William should say
nothing of a Cornish name, but only quote the Saxon one. However, this
Saxon name, "the Hoar rock in the Wood" sounds decidedly like a
translation, and is far too long and cumbrous for a current name.
_Michelstow_ is mentioned by others as the Saxon name of the Mount
(Naveus, p. 233). The Latin name given to the Mount, but only after it had
become a dependency of Mont St. Michel in Normandy, was, as we saw from
William of Worcester's diary, _Mons Tumba_ or _Mons Tumba in Cornubia_,
and after his time the name of _St. Michael in Tumba_ or in _Monte Tumba_
is certainly used promiscuously for the Cornish and Norman mounts.(94) Now
_tumba_, after meaning hillock, became the recognized name for tomb, and
the mediaeval Latin _tumba_, too, was always understood in that sense. If,
therefore, the name "Mons in tumba" had to be rendered in Cornish for the
benefit of the Cornish-speaking monks of the Benedictine priory, _tumba_
would actually be taken in the sense of tomb. One form of the Cornish
name, as preserved by Carew, is _Cara cowz in clowze_; and this, if
interpreted without any preconceived opinion, would mean in Cornish "the
old rock of the tomb." _Cara_ stands for _carak_, a rock. _Cowz_ is meant
for _coz_, the modern Cornish and Armorican form corresponding to the
ancient Cornish _coth_, old.(95) _Clowze_ is a modern and somewhat corrupt
form in Cornish, corresponding to the Welsh _clawdh_, a tomb. _Cladh-va_,
in Cornish, means a burying-place; and _cluddu_, to bury, has been
preserved as a Cornish verb, corresponding to the Welsh _cladhu_. In
Gaelic, too, _cladh_ is a tomb or burying-place; and in Armorican, which
generally follows the same phonetic changes as